Howard plays despite constant knee pain

Tuesday

BOSTON — After a day of almost complete rest, Ryan Howard came up to Charlie Manuel on Monday morning and told the manager that he was good to go for the Phillies’ opener in Boston on Monday night.

But that doesn’t mean that everything within Howard’s left knee is good. In fact, the reality of the situation is that the left knee probably won’t get significantly better until something is done to fix the meniscus down the road.

“Right now I’m just looking at it day to day,” said Howard, who was placed at first base Monday night in the starting lineup. “Sometimes it’s a little more, sometimes it’s a little less. Obviously that’s going to be something. Right now I’m looking at it day to day, and trying to run with the good days.”

Howard’s numbers have suffered with the knee. He’s hitting .254 with six homers and 25 RBIs. The fewest number of home runs that he’s hit through April and May in a non-injury shortened season was eight in 2010. He had 33 RBIs in that stretch.

Since it is the left knee, it is Howard’s back leg — his drive leg — where he can push off and get a lot of power during his swing.

“I haven’t been one to make excuses,” Howard said. “When I was going out there when my ankle was bad, I still feel like I could go out there and contribute to the best of my ability. In 2011, before the rupture. I don’t know, I don’t try to make excuses.”

For now, expect Howard to sit out at least one day a week and maybe more until the issue is resolved.

“His leg is going to always be bothering him,” Manuel said. “He has some arthritis. It comes and goes in his legs. He’s going to always be bothered by that. On the days when it really hurts him bad, maybe those are the times where I have to communicate with him. He has to tell me.”

Papelbon returns to Boston

When you walk through the door to the press box at Fenway Park, Jonathan Papelbon is among the first images that you can see.

Actually, it was Papelbon’s alter ego of “Cinco Ocho” with his pants rolled up and his shirt torn apart, doing an Irish jig dance on top of the pitcher’s mound at Fenway minutes after the Red Sox won the 2007 American League Championship Series against the Cleveland Indians.

But if the Boston media was thinking they were going to get an overly sentimental Papelbon on Monday in his first visit to the Back Bay since leaving as a free agent following the 2011 season, the Phillies’ closer wasn’t going to oblige easily.

“I loved turning the page ... I’ll think of that when my career is over,” Papelbon said when asked about his Fenway memories. “It’s hard right now ... To me, I’m just coming in here and trying to beat the Red Sox in two games. That’s all it really boils down to. There are so many games, and they all run into each other. My focus is right there.”

Papelbon was a fixture at Fenway and earned a distinction as one of two men to close out Boston World Series victories over the past 95 years. Still, there were some questions about how he would be received when he first took to the mound in this series.

“Hopefully I’ll be received well,” Papelbon said. “I also have to accept the fact that I might not. Hopefully, the fans will understand that what I did when I was here was come in and help (the Red Sox) win, and that while I was here that’s all I really wanted to do.”

Manuel of the people

Just after his pregame media routine was concluded, Manuel was called over by a Phillies fan that had spotted him while taking the Fenway Park tour and standing by the rope line next to the dugout. Manuel came over, shook the woman’s hand and took a picture with her.

Then another Phillies fan said hi and Manuel took a picture with him and signed an autograph. And then, another tour group of Phillies fans and some Red Sox fans came over and wanted to say hello.

Manuel signed their autographs and took pictures for almost 15 minutes before having to get back to work.

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